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Cara Science & Civilisation Lecture 2016

October 21, 2016 |Event

On Monday 17 October 2016 Professor Dame Anne Glover FRS FRSE delivered the fourth annual Cara ‘Science and Civilisation’ lecture, to a capacity audience in the Dining Room of the Royal Society. The lecture series takes its name from the title of lecture given by Albert Einstein in October 1933 at the Royal Albert Hall, at a major fundraising event on behalf of Cara and three other organisations who had come together as the ‘Refugee Assistance Fund’ to help those being expelled from Germany by the Nazis. Dame Anne spoke on the theme of, “And then they came for the experts”, having provided the following advance synopsis:

“A Lutheran pastor, Martin Niemoeller, frustrated at the lack of condemnation of the Nazis by German intellectuals, made a speech in 1946. He said, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” After the recent EU referendum, many were concerned at the condemnation of experts encapsulated by a comment by Michael Gove saying “people in this country have had enough of experts”. This lecture will highlight the excellence of science in the EU and how this has impact on every citizen. It will also try to address what we need to do to embody the use of evidence in decision-making and how to encourage our politicians to be more transparent about their motivations in policymaking.”

To follow her lecture, first click here to open the audio recording (opens in a separate tab), then return to this tab and click here to see her lecture slides.